OCEANSIDE: Council deadlocks on trash contract extension

Three more years would bring city $1 million

A proposal by Oceanside's trash hauler to pay the city $1
million a year for a three-year contract extension stalled in a 2-2
deadlocked City Council vote Wednesday.

Councilmen Jerry Kern and Jack Feller voted to accept the offer
from Waste Management Inc. of North County. Mayor Jim Wood and
Councilwoman Esther Sanchez voted against it. Waste Management is a
national company with offices in Oceanside.

The council has had only four members since former Council Rocky
Chavez resigned in December to become state undersecretary of
veterans affairs.

Waste Management District Director Ken Ryan declined to say
after the vote whether the offer would stay open.

"As we move forward, we are going to assess the business
conditions at the time," Ryan said.

Waste Management wanted to extend its contract, set to expire in
2012, to 2015.

Besides paying the city $1 million, Waste Management offered to
guarantee that starting in 2012, Oceanside residential trash rates
would be the lowest among the San Diego cities that charge for
trash collection . The company now guarantees that Oceanside's
residential rates will be equal to the city that has the third
lowest rates in the county.

The offer also included changes in the recycling program to use
a single wheeled bin instead of the small crates.

"We felt this was a really good opportunity for the people of
Oceanside, both from a financial and environmental perspective,"
Ryan said.

The council also deadlocked 2-2 in a separate vote on a proposal
by Sanchez to hire a consultant to begin negotiations for a new
long-term contract with Waste Management and, at the same time,
seek bids from competing companies. Wood supported Sanchez's
proposal, but Kern and Feller voted against it.

Sanchez said she was following the advice of a consultant hired
by the city to review the Waste Management offer. The consultant,
Joe Sloan Vasquez LLC, advised in a report last week that the city
hold out for a better deal from Waste Management and immediately
seek bids for a long-term contract.

With the city facing a budget deficit of $8 million, Kern and
Feller said the city would be wise to take the Waste Management
offer.

"That $1 million might make the difference between closing a
library and cutting back the hours," Kern said. "We all win by
moving forward with this contract tonight."

But Sanchez said other cities get more money from their trash
haulers in franchise fees and have lower trash rates.

Waste Management pays no money to the city, but City Manager
Peter Weiss has said services included in Oceanside's contract that
aren't provided in other cities equal a franchise fee of nearly
$1.9 million.

Wood said the contract with Waste Management was too important
to rush into a deal that would extend it three years.

Waste Management spokeswoman Charissa McAfee said it was wrong
to compare Waste Management's $1 million-a-year offer to franchise
fees other cities collect. The difference, she said, is that
franchise fees are added into the rates customers pay.

In this case, McAfee said, the money Waste Management would pay
the city wouldn't' be rolled into rates charged customers.

However, the consultant hired by the city to review Waste
Management's offer, Jim Sloan, said Waste Management would save
more than $1 million a year through the revised recycling
program.

Most of the more than 25 people who addressed the council
supported the Waste Management offer.

"I certainly would like to have the lowest rates in the county,"
said resident George Brown.

Resident Josh Martinez said he liked the proposal to provide
wheeled bins for recyclable items.

"We look forward to upgrading from the milk crates we have now,"
Martinez said.